'CA needs to stop Oz players from overloading themselves by playing in IPL'

Sydney,
Tue, 20 Nov 2012ANI

Sydney, Nov 20(ANI): Twenty20 tournament like the lucrative Indian Premier League is overloading Australian players' already jam-packed schedule, and the Cricket Australia (CA) in the country should take some action to put a halt to it, according to cricket writer Ben Dorries.

"Cricket Australia doesn't have any current plans to crack down on Australian players going to line their pockets at the lucrative Indian Premier League next April and May," Dorries wrote in his column for News.com.au.

"That is despite Australia playing a four-Test series in India in February and March, and then heading to England in June for a Champions Trophy one-day event followed by the five-Test Ashes series in the UK starting in July," he added.

"It is a non-stop mountain of cricket - and don't forget there will be 10 Ashes Tests next year, with the battle in England followed by a return five-Test series in Australia. It is true that not all of Australia's cricket stars will be playing in the IPL," he further wrote.

Dorries added: "But there are some, such as Dave Warner and Mike Hussey, who could potentially be playing Test and short-form cricket for Australia as well as settling in for the IPL. Even in such a jam-packed cricket year as 2013, CA appears strangely comfortable with players going to the IPL."

"Next year's IPL is in the official players' leave period so it seems they will make their own decisions on whether to play in the rich T20 event," he wrote.

"The international cricket workload is increasing by the year so it is always going to be a juggling act trying to work out what our top cricketers should play and what they should skip," he added.

"But it is hard to see how having Australian stars playing in the IPL helps anyone - apart from boosting a few bank balances. And there will be hell to pay if one of our big names goes down before the Ashes," he concluded. (ANI)